Blitz Off!
by Shining Kestral
Summary: Tidus teaches the Cosmos Warriors to play Blitzball.


Tidus was bored. Very bored. Why, one could even say that he was _extremely _bored. Practicing both fighting and Blitzball by himself could only occupy him for so long and nobody was really in the mood to do anything. Not that he could blame them. It was ridiculously hot and everyone sought shelter from the sun in one way or another. They had stopped at a beach, where some of the Cosmos warriors took to the ocean to cool off while others found some shade to rest in. Firion and Cecil were having a conversation about something. Tidus tried to listen to them, but it just wasn't all that interesting to him. Terra seemed to be unbothered by the temperature, using her ice magic to keep herself cool. Cloud and Squall seemed to decide that sleeping was the best way to beat the heat, both of them napping on opposite sides of the same tree. Even the Warrior of Light had removed his armor. Tidus didn't mind the heat as much as the others - he came from a world that had a warmer climate than most. But even he had to admit it was getting to him. A combination of boredom and not wanting to watch his companions bake miserably gave him a great idea.

"Hey everyone!" he shouted. Everyone turned their attention to him. Except for Squall, who opened one eye, saw who was speaking and that there was no immediate danger, then closed it again. Tidus continued, "I have an idea. Let's play Blitzball!"

"...Tidus," Firion said, sounding a bit unsure. "We've heard you talk a lot about this "Blitzball," but we don't really know what it is. Or how to play."

"Not a problem!" Tidus grinned. He had anticipated this little snag coming up. "I'll teach you guys!"

"Isn't it a little...too hot to be playing a sport?" Terra asked, looking at her companions. She wasn't sure if it was safe to be doing anything physically exhausting.

"That's not a problem either!" Tidus assured, patting her on the head. He didn't notice Onion Knight attempting to set his head on fire via glare. "Blitzball is played in there." He pointed at the ocean. Upon learning this new information, everyone seemed more open to the idea. Cecil was the first to agree to play and everyone else consented one by one.

Well, almost everyone.

Cloud nudged Squall with his boot and the sullen teen ignored him. Seeing that fail, the blond did the logical thing: he kicked Squall in the side. Strong enough to hurt, but not enough to cause any lasting pain. He started following everyone else towards the ocean.

"We're playing Blitzball," he said, not bothering to look back.

"Not interested," came the reply.

"Tidus says we need everyone to play. You can be the one to tell everyone they're not going to get to have fun."

Squall sighed, thunked his head against the tree trunk for a few seconds, then got up to join them.

* * *

It was time for Blitzball 101, and Tidus was giving a crash course in the basics of the sport. He had to tell himself to not expect the professional level of playing he was used to and to not get carried away with explanations of fancy techniques and all that. Just enough to get everyone started.

"Blitzball," he said, holding the ball in question, "is a game played underwater."

"Underwater?" Zidane echoed, then pointed at the sea. "You mean like..._underwater _underwater?"

Tidus nodded, not understanding what that meant to everybody who wasn't him. "Yeah." He tossed the ball into the water and it sank. "Anyway-"

"Tidus," Cecil interrupted. "Erm...how long can you hold your breath?"

"Me?" Tidus looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Oh...about fifteen minutes or so. Twenty-ish if I'm not doing anyth- why are you all looking at me like that?"

Sometimes Tidus forgot that not everyone was like him. He had been pretty much raised from birth to be a Blitz Ace. Most people could only hope to be able to hold their breaths for even a small fraction of the amount of time he could. Tidus was just about ready to give up on his Blitzball idea when Terra, sweet, kind, _wonderful _Terra stepped in, focusing her magical talents into crafting a spell that would allow everyone to both breathe and speak underwater. Tidus made a mental note to repay her in the future. Somehow.

After Terra demonstrated that her spell did, indeed work, everyone dived beneath the surface to continue their lessons in Blitzball basics. Zidane was the only one to be completely comfortable right off the bat with it. Apparently, this was not the first time the thief found himself breathing underwater. It took a few minutes for everyone else to get used to the weirdness of it all. The area they had dived into, by sheer luck, happened to be a perfect natural Blitzball arena. It was about the size as a regulation field and had natural rock formations on each side that made perfect goals.

Tidus explained the rest of Blitzball without incident. It was, at its core, a rather simple game and most of the group was familiar with games from their own homeworlds that were similar to it. He then divided everyone up into two teams. One team was made up of Onion Knight, Bartz, Firion, Cloud, and Warrior of Light while he, Terra, Squall, Zidane, and Cecil made up the other. Normally, there were six active players on each team, but they could make do with five each. Tidus had chosen the teams at random, as nobody had no idea how good they were at the game and what their strengths and weaknesses were.

"Okay," he said to his team, naturally assumimng the role as captain. "Anyone have any idea what they want to do?"

"I would like to try being the goalie," Cecil said. When nobody else expressed interest in the position, it was his.

"Defense," Squall said. It wasn't that he thought he'd be any good at it, but because he figured that it was a slower, calmer position where he wouldn't have to participate as much. Zidane also volunteered to play defender. (Which surprised Tidus. He was certain Zidane would want to be a forward.) All that was left was for Terra to decide what she wanted to do.

There were several formations in Blitzball, and a team chose one that suited their strengths best. Tidus already had decided to be a forward himself, as that was where he shined best. Terra had the choice of being either another forward, centerfield, or a defender. She ruled out centerfield, not liking the idea of having to be in a position all by herself, but wasn't sure whether she wanted to be a forward or a defender. Both of them seemed like high pressure spots to her. Tidus eventually managed to convince her to give forward a try and if she didn't like it, she could move to defender later. The two forward, two defender setup was the most basic of formations, and Tidus thought it would be a good idea to give it a go for first time players.

It seemed that on the opposing side, Firion had assumed the role of team captain and he waved at Tidus to signal that they were ready to start. The Blitzball was placed in the center of the field and everyone swam into their respective positions. Tidus noted that Firion's team had decided to use a different setup. Firion and Bartz were playing forwards, Onion Knight as the centerfield, Cloud as the lone defender, and the Warrior of Light was the goalie.

"Ready?" Tidus called, and everyone looked expectant for the game to begin. "BLITZ OFF!"

The forwards on both teams all swam to try to claim the ball. Tidus was the first to reach it, just beating out Bartz for possession. Right away, both Bartz and Firion blocked his path, challenging him for the ball. Tidus realized that since he was the biggest threat to their team, they were going to keep him covered. _Huh, not a bad bit of strategy for beginners,_ he thought. Both of his opponents charged forward. Tidus evaded Bartz, but was hit hard by Firion. He had endured worse tackles in the past, however, and managed to keep his grip on the ball. Before the two of them could circle back around to attack again, he swam forward, outpacing Onion Knight. He was getting close to the goal and just a little bit closer, he would be able to take a good shot. He had to admit that the Warrior of Light looked pretty intimidating in front of it.

But before he could do that, Tidus found his path blocked again, this time by Cloud. Having only one defender was a huge gamble, and Tidus thought to himself that they should have put someone else on defense, especially since they were up against him. All he had to do was get past Cloud and there was nothing standing between him and the goal. Cloud built up energy and tackled with more speed than Tidus thought he was capable of. He was too slow to dodge it and was struck.

Cloud hit like an airship. Tidus was actually stunned for a few seconds and once he was able to move again, Cloud had the ball in his hands and wordlessly passed it to Onion Knight, who then sent it to Firion. In just a few seconds, the ball was already halfway across the field and Tidus could do nothing but hope the two defenders would be able to repel the attack. He swam back to his team's side of the field. If they regained possession of the ball, the defense needed somebody to pass to. Firion endured a tackle from Squall and drew ever closer to the goal. Cecil narrowed his eyes, prepared to block a possible shot. Once Firion felt he was close enough, he kicked the ball towards the goal. It sailed through the water...

...only to be intercepted by Zidane, who gave him a cheeky grin before turning gracefully and speeding off. Zidane had taken a defense position mainly because he knew that Squall wasn't very keen on the idea of playing a game and pestered him until he agreed to play seriously. Bartz was approaching Zidane fast, so he passed the ball back to Tidus, a long pass that just barely made it. Tidus, however was immediately set upon by Onion Knight and Firion. They were just not going to give him a break here, were they? He couldn't hope to shoot, and he risked giving up control of the ball again if he let them challenge him. Trying to find a way out, he looked frantically around. If he absolutely had to, he could pass back towards the defense. But he saw an opening: Terra was close to the goal and wide open, having been forgotten. This was their chance!

"Terra!" he called and hurled the ball at her with all his might. Onion Knight tried to intercept the pass, but he only managed to get his hand on the ball, altering its angle slightly and causing it to lose a little bit of speed. He shook his hand, which was smarting from colliding with a fast moving object. Terra managed to catch the ball, but its momentum sent her flying backwards a bit. She moved closer towards the goal and was confronted by Cloud. He geared up his strength and went at her full force, but she was much quicker, twisting to the side and he bulldozed right past her.

Immediately, she turned towards the goal and took a shot. The ball crackled with electricity, as Terra used her magic to augment the power of her shot. It flew straight at the goal and the Warrior of Light dived to block it. However, he was just barely too slow and the ball sailed past him through the goal. Tidus' team (except for one person who shall remain nameless) threw their arms up in celebration.

"I apologize for my failure," the Warrior of Light told the rest of his team.

"Eh, it's just a game, don't worry about it," Onion Knight said. However, his true thoughts did not match up with his words. The other side scoring sparked a competitive fire inside him, and he was overcome with a powerful desire to _win. _First, he needed to motivate the goalie. "Think of protecting the goal as like defending Cosmos." The Warrior of Light nodded and decided to take his advice to heart. "Okay, you guys, if we're going to win this, we're going to have to change our strategy..."

A few minutes later, the game resumed. As they had just been scored against, Firion's team was automatically given control of the ball. Tidus noticed that they were taking a more aggressive approach, moving down the field quickly and passing whenever someone approached them. Like this, they were able to get close enough to the goal to shoot. Cecil blocked a shot from Firion, catching the ball and throwing it at Squall, who missed catching it only for it to be claimed by Bartz, who took a shot right away. Cecil wasn't able to block this one, and the ball flew into the goal. Just like that, the score was tied. Tidus had to admit that Bartz was pretty good, though he couldn't tell if that was from actual skill or if he was copying someone. Namely, him.

When the game resumed for the third time, the two sides were locked in a stalemate. Neither team could break through the other's defenses. Cloud tackled with all his might and Zidane intercepted passes and shots left and right. The second Tidus got the ball, pretty much the entire opposing team was on him. Every shot that was taken was blocked by the goalies, and halftime arrived with no movement in the score.

Onion Knight, when not busy actually playing, used up as much time as he could to observe Tidus' team, identifying its strengths and weaknesses along with those of his own team. Already, he was cooking up a winning gameplan in his mind. He called his team mates over to discuss their next move, and he felt a bit of a rush when he realized that control of the team had shifted over to him.

The second half of the Blitzball game started with Terra grabbing the ball first. However, Bartz quickly stole the ball from her. Tidus frowned when he saw that. Bartz was very quickly becoming a huge pain in the butt. But instead of moving forward to try to score a goal, he passed the ball away to Onion Knight. Tidus wasn't quite sure why - Bartz was clear to gain ground. Onion Knight swam forward and Squall tackled him, almost, but not quite, causing him to let go of the ball. In the corner of his eye, Onion Knight saw Zidane approaching, most likely to try to intercept the ball like he had been doing the entire game. He proceeded forward and stopped, and Tidus figured that he was going to try for a goal. After a brief pause, Onion Knight kicked the ball at the goal and sure enough, Zidane was there to try to catch it before reaching the goal. When the ball got closer, however, Zidane's eyes widened, apparently seeing something and the ball collided with his chest, floating off to the side. Tidus waited for the thief to recover but...he didn't. Zidane drifted in the water uselessly, unmoving. Geez, did the kid hit the ball so hard that he knocked Zidane out? It didn't look like all that strong a kick to him...

Onion Knight allowed himself a smirk as the last flicker of magic disappeared from his hands. He was pleased that his theory was correct. The biggest obstacle between them and the goal was now removed.

In Blitzball, it was actually quite common for players to get knocked out or hindered on the field. Rules stated that the game went on, no substitutions could be made and that a team would just have to take the hit to their forces until that player recovered. Not that Tidus had anyone he could tell to take Zidane's place, anyway.

Bartz had the ball, and he passed it to Firion, who kicked it at the goal without even catching it. It zoomed forward, almost hitting Squall's head, and Cecil reacted one second too late to block it.

They were losing, Tidus realized. Somehow, his team, (which contained a _Blitz Ace _mind you!) was losing! One defender was out of commission and things were not looking good. Time was running out and they needed to score twice to win. He held the ball tight and when play resumed, he swam like a demon, blazing past Firion, Bartz, and Onion Knight. Tidus decided to take a risky shot. He was far from the goal, but he wanted to score a point and he wanted to do it ten seconds ago. He kicked the ball with all his might, and was crestfallen when Cloud snatched it up. Cloud started to swim forward to get into passing range, but stopped abruptly when he found his path blocked by Terra. Cloud stared at her, and she matched his gaze. He waited for her to move out of his way. She didn't. She moved back a bit and Cloud realized she was going to tackle him.

...really?

What Cloud _didn't _realize, however, was Terra surrounding herself with ice as she rushed forward. The force of tackle didn't faze him, but the chilling cold did, and Cloud was left shivering, unable to move. With nobody in her way, Terra took a shot at the goal, but the Warrior of Light was there, blocking it with his arms. She caught the ball and tried again, but this time, the ball was caught and subsequently passed to Onion Knight, who transferred it to Firion.

Or at least, he tried to. Firion fumbled the ball and it drifted away to Squall's possession. Unfortunately for him, Bartz was also there and ready to try to steal the ball away. Squall looked for someone to pass to, but Tidus and Terra were too far away to even attempt. He turned his head and saw the still unconscious body of Zidane.

"Zidane," he grumbled quietly, then yelled. "_Wake up!_" and he kicked the ball full force at Zidane, who let out a particularly pained yelp as the ball slammed into his body and changed course, amazingly, right towards Tidus. Grabbing it, Tidus made a mad dash to the goal, past the still shivering Cloud. He aimed carefully at the goal and kicked...and watched in horror as the Warrior of Light blocked it. The goalie threw the ball back into play and Tidus caught it and tried again. Again, blocked.

"I will protect this goal with my very life," the Warrior of Light said to him.

_...oooookaaaay. _Tidus thought.

When the ball was thrown back into play, Tidus knew there was no way they were going to score the two required goals to win. Fine then. He was going to make it a tie. He nodded at Terra and she understood what he wanted her to do. As the ball approached, she cast a Holy spell, altering its course and sending it at full speed straight at Tidus. He smacked the ball with his arm and it bounced off one of the rock edges of the goal. It may have seemed like a missed shot, but that was exactly what he was aiming for. As the ball came back towards him, he twisted in the water, spinning around to build up momentum, and at the perfect moment, reached out with his leg and kicked with all his strength, sending up a spray of bubbles.

The Jecht Shot. The perfect, ultimate Blitzball technique. With this, he saved the team from an embarrassing defeat.

"Time's up!" Onion Knight called. "We won!"

"What?" Tidus snarled. "No, you didn't, it's a tie!"

Onion Knight waggled a finger. "Oh really? 'Cause I didn't see you score a goal."

"Of course I did!" Tidus protested, then turned towards the goal. "Look over...there..."

Over there was the Warrior of Light, holding the Blitzball in his hands.

Tidus dug his hands into his hair and screamed.

* * *

"That was fun," Cecil said with a smile once everyone was on dry land. He didn't mind losing and he rather enjoyed his role as the goalie. "We should play again sometime."

There were murmurs of agreement, even from Squall. (Who, when asked later, would deny any enjoyment.) Onion Knight looked particularly pleased with himself, and he chattered endlessly about how much fun he had.

"It's a straightforward game on the surface," he said, "but there's actually quite a bit of strategy involved. The great thing about it is that you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. Oh, Terra, you were great! We should be on the same team next time!"

While everyone talked about the game, Tidus sulked alone on the beach, waves lapping at his feet. His pride as a Blitz Ace had been completely and utterly shattered.


End file.
